Most people would recognise the Tri-Ferg logo without knowing its origin. Graphic designer Fergus Purcell created it as a play on the Penrose triangle, the impossible figure that looks solid on paper but cannot be built in three dimensions. You can see the logo on every shelf of the palace skateboards soho store, where it appears on tees, hoodies and accessories.
Over the past 17 years, Palace Skateboards has grown from a cult label into one of the most influential names in British streetwear. Lev Tanju and Gareth Skewis met while skating around London’s Southbank Centre and founded the brand in 2009. Since then, they have worked with Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Stella Artois and Rizla. They also served as guest editors for the magazine’s October 2026 issue.
The brand’s newest store is in Soho. Its first shop opened a decade ago on Brewer Street, in the same neighbourhood. Palace has since opened more than ten stores worldwide, including locations in New York, Seoul, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Shanghai. Each one reflects its city, through locally sourced materials and small cultural references.
Soho’s interiors are constantly reinventing themselves, as this restored restaurant shows. Recycled Brick Soho Restaurant Gets Vintage-Modern Makeover makes a good comparison.
“There’s always a subtle influence of each city within the design,” says Skewis.
Inside the palace skateboards soho store
The palace skateboards soho store gives the brand more room for its seasonal collections and weekly product drops. It also pushes the retail design in a new direction. The project is Palace’s latest collaboration with Seoul-based designer Steve Oh, who has worked on its stores across Asia. It is his first project in Europe. It is also the brand’s only store outside Asia that spans two floors.
“Gareth and Lev give me a blank canvas for each project,” says Oh. “I have the creative freedom to do what I think would fit.”
Oh noticed two features on his first visit: the long, narrow plan and the large windows and skylights that pull daylight deep into the back of the space. He compared the room to the Great Court at the British Museum. That comparison shaped the concept. The interiors borrow elements from earlier Palace spaces and display highlights from the brand’s archive, so the store reads as a history of the label.
Oh divided the floor into a sequence of connected rooms, similar to the enfilade of a museum. Each room has its own mood and its own mix of materials. Palace’s usual palette includes mirrors, brushed stainless steel, white marble, oak and exposed concrete, and each room uses them in different proportions. “There are elements here that feel quintessentially London and English to me,” says Skewis. Parquet flooring on the upper level nods to historic British interiors.
The bulldog statue that appears in many of Palace’s other stores is absent here. The entrance, by contrast, recreates the black-and-white marble floor of the original Brewer Street shop. A Rolls-Royce radiator grille that once hung in the restaurant owned by Tanju’s grandfather now sits on the wall. A life-size portrait of Elizabeth II presides over the fitting room.
“The fitting room is usually the last thing that people focus on,” says Oh. “But I always try to do something surprising or unique in each one.”
At the rear of the store, a large window of stained glass panels stands out. Palace designed the panels and Scottish studio Pavilion Pavilion crafted them. The motifs follow the brand’s usual style: praying skeleton hands, gothic lettering and a figure-of-eight symbol. The same symbol appears on the shop’s front door handle. Oh also designed benches and stools whose legs echo the Tri-Ferg logo in profile. They recall the pews of a minimalist chapel.
“We do quite a lot of religious tongue-in-cheek twists,” says Tanju. “It’s funny for us to have an expensive joke, but it also makes the space feel a bit sacred.”
The store also holds a piece of skateboarding history. The Victoria Benches were a famous skating spot in Christchurch Gardens, beside the former New Scotland Yard. Anti-skate measures led to their removal in 2019. Tanju and Skewis saved one set. One bench now sits inside the palace skateboards soho store, where customers can sit on it.
“That might sound quite strange if you aren’t into skateboarding, but these things are as important as, say, Lord’s cricket ground, if you like cricket,” says Skewis.
Two more of the benches are at Manor Place. Palace and Nike opened this free indoor skatepark and community sports hub in a restored 19th-century bathhouse in south London last year.
Community sports spaces like this one share the same spirit, with open courts that bring neighbours together. Aerial Photos of 2,500 Hong Kong Basketball Courts shows how far that idea reaches.
Manor Place and the Soho store both give people places to gather, rest and have fun. Community matters to skate culture, and both founders want to keep the playful spirit that helped the brand take off. “When we opened the first store, at the end of the day, we would shut the shop and drink in the back room with the staff,” says Tanju. “We still want to make a space where people hang out.”
The palace skateboards soho store is at 8 Poland Street, London W1. It is a cathedral to skate culture, and it is open to skateboarders and everyone else.
Source: wallpaper.com
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Palace Skateboards and when did they start?
Lev Tanju and Gareth Skewis founded Palace Skateboards in 2009. They met while skating around London’s Southbank Centre.
Who designed the interior of the Palace Soho store?
Seoul-based designer Steve Oh designed the Soho store, which is his first project in Europe. He has worked on Palace’s stores across Asia.
What is the origin of Palace’s Tri-Ferg logo?
Graphic designer Fergus Purcell created the Tri-Ferg logo as a play on the Penrose triangle. The Penrose triangle is an impossible figure that looks solid on paper but cannot be built in three dimensions.
Why is one of the Victoria Benches inside the Palace Soho store?
The Victoria Benches were a famous skating spot in Christchurch Gardens, but they were removed in 2019 due to anti-skate measures. Tanju and Skewis saved one set, and one bench now sits inside the Soho store where customers can sit on it.
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